S04.E07: Under Fire

[thewhiteowl]

The SWAT team goes on the hunt for a sniper who is targeting the Los Angeles Fire Department by setting fires around the city to lure in unsuspecting engine companies. Also, the rivalry between Chris, Street and Tan ratchets up when Tan finds out there’s an internal betting pool on which of them will win the SWAT leadership competition. And, Street and Molly’s relationship is strained by his complicated history with his imprisoned mother.

[Danielg342]

Last week, it was all about the sum of the parts being better than the parts themselves.

This week, it's the opposite.

There were the pieces necessary for a good, compelling story. Tim Griffin (Max, the shooter) and Roberto Sanchez (Captain Hauser) really dug into their roles and made the "it's personal" story as personal as it gets. Street and Molly (with a side from Chris) played all the right beats in their storyline. Tan got (deservedly) raked over the coals for trying to play hero and made up for it by removing his name from the leadership competition. Deacon and Cooper had a nice story too.

Oh, and there was action, urgency, good pacing...and the fires were visually impressive.

It just didn't work.

I can't really put my finger on why but it could just simply be about a writer trying to do too much. There's only so much story you can fit in to an episode and there were quite a lot of things to digest as this episode wore along. It gets exhausting having to figure out the storylines when there's so many in motion at the same time. Usually you try to weave them in as best as you can but I don't believe the writer of this episode really accomplished that.

Longer term...you have to wonder where Street's going on two fronts (as well as Chris). Will he make up with his mother? Will Chris' ominous prediction about his mother ruining his relationship with Molly come true? To Chris' ultimate benefit, I might add. Then there's the leadership position Street is gunning for with Chris. I guess the show really wanted to make it a battle between Chris and Street and found a way to get Tan out of there.

Sometimes I wonder if Street is the show's "second main character" because he does seem to get storylines that are just as developed as Hondo's. I don't believe there's any question that this is Hondo's show but sometimes I wonder if CBS forced the show to expand the role of at least one of the younger characters, maybe out of fear that the 50-year-old (yes, he's 50) Shemar Moore might not be enough of a draw. I think Alex Russell would have broken out anyway and Moore has shown he's more than capable of leading a show...but things like this make me wonder, anyway.

[Sweet Tooth]

I really liked this episode. 

There was a lot going on, but I felt they did a good job with it.

At first, I was kind of pissed at Molly. Not that she answered the phone but that I felt she was judging Street without knowing anything that went down with his mom. So I was glad when, at the end, she said she'd asked him about it a bunch of times, and he'd shut her down. Also, that when he said he wanted to tell her, that she didn't stomp off.

They've been pushing Street/Chris pretty hard, going back to it in the previouslies, so I was surprised when they reconciled at the end. However, we'll see how long it lasts, as I doubt they've brought up Street's mom if she's not going to become a thorn in his side again. Or maybe she dies, and he gets riddled with guilt and turns to Chris for comfort. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.

I was also glad Chekhov's jealousy went off in this one episode, and they didn't drag that part out, at least. Agreed that it had to come down to Street and Chris.

I was also pleasantly surprised that with a sniper episode, nobody died. You really felt for the fire chief, and they managed to make all of the firefighters real people who you could relate to and care about.

And I must admit, because I have no idea what this competition is, that when Street won "Master Gunner" I thought he won the whole shebang. Like, I kept wondering why all of those letters when they could just call it the Master Gunner competition. Or even M.G. But now I get that it's a series of tests, and so this will be dragged out for a while.

 

[Raja]

On 1/13/2021 at 8:34 PM, Danielg342 said:

 

Sometimes I wonder if Street is the show's "second main character" because he does seem to get storylines that are just as developed as Hondo's. I don't believe there's any question that this is Hondo's show but sometimes I wonder if CBS forced the show to expand the role of at least one of the younger characters, maybe out of fear that the 50-year-old (yes, he's 50) Shemar Moore might not be enough of a draw. I think Alex Russell would have broken out anyway and Moore has shown he's more than capable of leading a show...but things like this make me wonder, anyway.

Street is defiantly the number two character on the show from the rebel high speed chase to open the series. I think it comes from Robert Urich playing Street having the biggest career from the legacy show. Backed up by the movie where Samuel L Jackson's Hondo was the spice while Street was the main dish as the other characters were changed to pretty much just using the names from the legacy show.

 

For the episode, The Closer did it better.  About halfway through I started noticing that it was another example of the weird TV case where the police squad, although they have the weapons and used them before they don't take the special weapons to the job.  5-0 was infamous for it carrying machine guns  for a job at a brothel  but only pistols when they knew they were going into a firefight at times. The squad knew that they were dealing with a sniper before the car bombs yet nobody armed themselves to deal with that threat. It is as they knew they would eventually get in a foot chase

Edited January 15, 2021 by Raja

[Sweet Tooth]

2 hours ago, Raja said:

Street is defiantly the number two character on the show from the rebel high speed chase to open the series. I think it comes from Robert Urich playing Street having the biggest career from the legacy show. Backed up by the movie where Samuel L Jackson's Hondo was the spice while Street was the main dish as the other characters were changed to pretty much just using the names from the legacy show.

I was going to ask who played Street in the TV show, because that might explain it, so this definitely makes sense. 

[Raja]

4 hours ago, Sweet Tooth said:

I was going to ask who played Street in the TV show, because that might explain it, so this definitely makes sense. 

My memories of the original show were that Street was just the big pretty guy. Luca was an ex undercover, Deke was Black and McCabe their sniper. In the movie McCabe and Luca turned bad.  It was a Hondo centered series 

[Raja]

With the Master Gunner storyline it is current but the production made it look like it was a holdover from last season. Not a mask in sight, that I remember when they had been wearing them for previous episodes and when Street's mom is said to be ill, in an enclosed prison setting nobody even things about the big elephant being held over the world.

[Danielg342]

On 1/14/2021 at 5:13 AM, Sweet Tooth said:

I was also pleasantly surprised that with a sniper episode, nobody died. You really felt for the fire chief, and they managed to make all of the firefighters real people who you could relate to and care about.

And I must admit, because I have no idea what this competition is, that when Street won "Master Gunner" I thought he won the whole shebang. Like, I kept wondering why all of those letters when they could just call it the Master Gunner competition. Or even M.G. But now I get that it's a series of tests, and so this will be dragged out for a while.

 

I cringed when I saw who the sniper shot first, because it was Cooper, the black man. The "black man dies first" cliche isn't as prevalent as it once was, but I'd hate for this show to fall for that. Thankfully it turned into a nice story about Deacon- a white man- doing all he can to save Cooper and doing it successfully, all while being humble about it. 

As for the competition...yeah, I don't know what it's called either. I believe it's for a leadership position, but you'd think the show would be clearer on what the characters are fighting for considering it's a pretty big storyline now.

On 1/14/2021 at 11:52 PM, Raja said:

Street is defiantly the number two character on the show from the rebel high speed chase to open the series. I think it comes from Robert Urich playing Street having the biggest career from the legacy show. Backed up by the movie where Samuel L Jackson's Hondo was the spice while Street was the main dish as the other characters were changed to pretty much just using the names from the legacy show.

I see. The other reason I ask about Street is the other elephant in the room- the race card. I can't help but wonder if CBS worried a black man couldn't successfully be the face of a TV show so they insisted Street be "pumped up" to account for this.

19 hours ago, Raja said:

With the Master Gunner storyline it is current but the production made it look like it was a holdover from last season. Not a mask in sight, that I remember when they had been wearing them for previous episodes and when Street's mom is said to be ill, in an enclosed prison setting nobody even things about the big elephant being held over the world.

I believe I read somewhere that Hollywood is grappling with how to handle our masked realities. They may be worried that audiences may not relate to the characters if their faces are hidden, so they're keeping the masking to a minimum. Or maybe the SWAT writers are like a lot of us that are fed up we're not "back to normal" already so they decided to write that in the SWAT universe that it is "normal" again.

I don't know...I'm just thinking out loud. I do think about it from time to time, wondering why, at least, the extras and peripheral characters are not masked. I can understand characters with lines not being masked but everyone else should be, you'd think.

[Raja]

It has been common to race and gender flip legacy characters when remaking old shows Hondo and Deacon in this case. And losing legacy McCabe, who I keep expecting to show up maybe on another team for Tan we have Street being initially forward second to Hondo when his character wasn't chosen for a flip is probably not CBS's doing by just a holdover from the movie

Pending the emergence of a Fonzie or Urkel which I think Deacon's money storyline came closer to than Chris and Tam's romantic woes or Luca moving into the city like Hondo left the initial plan of Street and his mom, the will they with Chris and the Commander's daughter in the two spot.

Edited January 16, 2021 by Raja

[Sweet Tooth]

14 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I cringed when I saw who the sniper shot first, because it was Cooper, the black man. The "black man dies first" cliche isn't as prevalent as it once was, but I'd hate for this show to fall for that. Thankfully it turned into a nice story about Deacon- a white man- doing all he can to save Cooper and doing it successfully, all while being humble about it. 

As for the competition...yeah, I don't know what it's called either. I believe it's for a leadership position, but you'd think the show would be clearer on what the characters are fighting for considering it's a pretty big storyline now.

Ugh. Yeah. Now that you mention it, that really was not the best choice. But horror movies are notorious for this.

They really could have been clearer as to what this competition is and why it's so important to her. Like, all of a sudden they bring this up without going into much detail about it, while making it a centerpiece of multiple episodes.

[WinJet0819]

15 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

As for the competition...yeah, I don't know what it's called either. I believe it's for a leadership position, but you'd think the show would be clearer on what the characters are fighting for considering it's a pretty big storyline now.

 

1 hour ago, Sweet Tooth said:

Ugh. Yeah. Now that you mention it, that really was not the best choice. But horror movies are notorious for this.

They really could have been clearer as to what this competition is and why it's so important to her. Like, all of a sudden they bring this up without going into much detail about it, while making it a centerpiece of multiple episodes.

Chris explained it to Erika in Episode 3, The Black Hand Man. It's the T.L.I. (Tactical Leadership Institute) Liaison competition. The winner gets to go to Germany to run security exercises with other anti-terrorist groups for a month. A chance to show leadership ability and set them up for a promotion. It's how they've explained why Luca isn't with the team, as he's also in Germany.

[transitfan]

On 1/15/2021 at 6:08 AM, Raja said:

My memories of the original show were that Street was just the big pretty guy. Luca was an ex undercover, Deke was Black and McCabe their sniper. In the movie McCabe and Luca turned bad.  It was a Hondo centered series 

IIRC, Luca wasn't in the movie, I think they replaced him with Michelle Rodriguez's character (Chris Sanchez).  Gamble was the one that turned bad (Street's partner who got kicked off the force after he shot the hostage), but I think he was just there to set up the eventual ending.

[Sweet Tooth]

5 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

Chris explained it to Erika in Episode 3, The Black Hand Man. It's the T.L.I. (Tactical Leadership Institute) Liaison competition. The winner gets to go to Germany to run security exercises with other anti-terrorist groups for a month. A chance to show leadership ability and set them up for a promotion. It's how they've explained why Luca isn't with the team, as he's also in Germany.

I guess someone was paying attention better than I was. Thanks for the explanation. That makes it a lot clearer.

[Danielg342]

I have a question I want to pose to the board.

In this episode, Tan was reprimanded by Hondo for "playing hero", taking a risk, ignoring protocols and violating a direct order. As you would expect.

However, in the season premiere, Hondo himself did just that and was called a hero by Hicks.

So, is Hondo a hypocrite? Is there a double standard being applied here?

Your turn.

[Raja]

As the team commander Hondo had his responsibilities, even if the wrong actions of one of his officers turned out okay. It would have been worse if Hondo took official actions that went into Tan's jacket which might prevent him from becoming a supervisor one day but it was just an off the books talk. Commander Hicks was dealing with a more experienced fellow leader, be it at a lower level at the tip of the spear and thus his counsel was different.

[mythoughtis]

12 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I have a question I want to pose to the board.

In this episode, Tan was reprimanded by Hondo for "playing hero", taking a risk, ignoring protocols and violating a direct order. As you would expect.

However, in the season premiere, Hondo himself did just that and was called a hero by Hicks.

So, is Hondo a hypocrite? Is there a double standard being applied here?

Your turn.

 The short answer is yes to both questions.   When have you ever seen Hondo get reprimanded for anything?  The man can seemingly do nothing wrong professionally .... but can’t handle a relationship personally.  
 

[Danielg342]

20 hours ago, Raja said:

As the team commander Hondo had his responsibilities, even if the wrong actions of one of his officers turned out okay. It would have been worse if Hondo took official actions that went into Tan's jacket which might prevent him from becoming a supervisor one day but it was just an off the books talk. Commander Hicks was dealing with a more experienced fellow leader, be it at a lower level at the tip of the spear and thus his counsel was different.

13 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

 The short answer is yes to both questions.   When have you ever seen Hondo get reprimanded for anything?  The man can seemingly do nothing wrong professionally .... but can’t handle a relationship personally.  
 

In Season 1, during the storyline against the Korean kingpin, Hicks *did* reprimand Hondo for going rogue. Mind you, Hondo's actions then were more reckless and weren't accomplishing anything, whereas his gambit earlier this season paid off.

Is that the difference? What Hondo did worked?

That's not really a good bar to determine the right time someone should get a pass to go rogue.

To me, whether or not Tan got an official warning on his record is moot. I'd say we don't know for sure if Hondo wasn't going to do that, and Tan made that issue moot by "punishing" himself by withdrawing from the leadership competition. I'd also say if the conversation went differently and Tan was respectfully defiant, Hondo will sure remember that when it comes time for him to provide a reference for Tan.

I do grant that, probably, Hondo talked to Tan knowing that Tan would probably understand the severity of his actions and would be genuinely remorseful about them, giving Hondo his word that this would be his first- and last- time crossing the line. Which Hondo would be okay with.

Which goes back to the reason I posed the question in the first place. Let me state, I'm not faulting the writers at all on this, except to say if they don't follow up on this incident they're missing a glorious opportunity.

I can personally see both sides in this, as I do think Hondo was more justified in defying an order in the season premiere than Tan was. There was too much risk involved for little reward in Tan's case, whereas in Hondo's situation the stakes were much higher and there was less of a physical risk to Hondo.

Plus, Tan is not Street. Tan is more disciplined, which made his "out of character" moment more shocking- and spurred Hondo to nip it in the bud as fast as he can so he doesn't get another team member giving him headaches.

...but...

Let's say this was Street, again, breaking protocol.

Hondo would read him the Riot Act, likely suspend him from the team. Heck, he might just fire him again.

...but...

Street would have a very good case to complain about being treated unfairly. "Why does Hondo get to break protocol but I don't?"

Yeah, Hondo would have more of a rock-solid case than Street would...but that doesn't matter.

All Street would see is a double standard being deployed, and he wouldn't be wrong in that assessment.

Stuff like that rips teams apart. You all know about the need to hold the leader to a higher standard...and, well, if Hondo gets to play hero, shouldn't the rest of his team get to do that too?

Going forward, I'm not saying that I'd want a full-blown mutiny. That would be taking things a bit too far.

However, I think the story of Hondo's leadership has been a bit too "easy". The narrative needs some drama...real drama, not just that one-off in the hills where Deacon finally confessed to Hondo that he was bitter about being passed over for the actual leadership job.

I think a storyline where Hondo gets called out by his team for "getting to play hero" could provide good material. Someone like Street or Chris- or both, since 1) they're still competing for the leadership position and 2) they're both too proud to not let Hondo know about his own hypocrisy- would "test" Hondo by violating minor orders. Nothing major, just small ones.

Hondo would talk to them, but that doesn't stem the tide, as both would rightly point out that Hondo got to break protocol and it worked so they should get the chance to do it too. Maybe then Hondo officially reprimands both, or maybe he doesn't...but if he does, it only makes things worse.

Then Hicks gets involved and, while he hasn't lost faith in Hondo's leadership abilities yet, he does ask the question if he's "slipping".

Which spurs Hondo to brood over what he can do to fix things because...Hicks is right.

Leading to a storyline where Hondo gets some character growth and wins back the trust of his team.

I don't know...I think there's a few episodes in there, at least, and I think S.W.A.T. needs some meatier storylines. It's Season Four, no need to "play it safe" anymore.

Thoughts?

@Sweet Tooth, do you want to weigh in on any of this?

[Sweet Tooth]

On 1/18/2021 at 11:39 PM, Danielg342 said:

I have a question I want to pose to the board.

In this episode, Tan was reprimanded by Hondo for "playing hero", taking a risk, ignoring protocols and violating a direct order. As you would expect.

However, in the season premiere, Hondo himself did just that and was called a hero by Hicks.

So, is Hondo a hypocrite? Is there a double standard being applied here?

Your turn.

 

10 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

@Sweet Tooth, do you want to weigh in on any of this?

I can also see both sides.

As a leader, you're there to set an example, so if you go rogue and then yell at other people for doing it, that would be hypocritical. It might have been good if someone had said as much to Hondo, and Hondo copped to it. Like, he knows he messed up, and he would set a better example.

I would assume in a job like this, when adrenaline is running high, you have to expect that there are going to be times when they will make rash decisions. 

Tan and Street seemed to have learned their lessons, but yes, it would be nice if during this incident, Hondo acknowledged that he may have set a bad example, and that he, too, would do better. It would at least prove he's self-aware.

[thewhiteowl]

JMO Hondo makes the decision and takes the responsibility because he's the leader. If Street or Tan makes a decision to go rogue, Hondo still takes on the responsibility again because he's the leader. That's why he can yell at them without being a hypocrite. Although he's setting the example that it's okay to go rogue when necessary, he's actually the one who decides when it's necessary. Not Street or Tan.